August Beauty Box Olympics!

I’ve decided to pit the August beauty boxes against one another in an Olympics style competition to see which one comes out on top! Who do you think will win the gold medal?

The contenders; Birchbox, Look Incredible & Glossybox.

I have created the following categories with which to judge them; Presentation, Make-Up, Skincare, Brand Discovery, and Overall Happiness Score! Each will be given points out of ten and the box with the most points at the end will be the winner.

Round 1: Presentation

Birchbox: Birchbox have ditched the box this month and sent their selection in a small off-white neoprene fabric bag. I received the version with the orange zipper. The product card was folded inside the bag which meant it was creased. 6/10

Look Incredible: Production values have certainly increased over at Look Incredible and the box now has gold lettering and ribbons in place of the simple white sticker. The product card now fits in the box too, bravo! 8/10

Glossybox: A special box design for Glossybox’s birthday but it could equally be for team GB! Inside was wrapped with pink paper and ribbon as usual. 6/10

Round Two: Make-Up

Birchbox: Only one make-up product, the Marcelle waterproof eye-liner in ‘Mulberry’. I had been quite excited by this when we were offered the chance to choose our own shade, I expected a shade named Mulberry to be reddish or purplish but it seems the folks at Marcelle disagree. The pencil is brown. Disappointing, boring, brown. To add insult to injury it won’t even draw on my eye, only on my hand. Nil Points. Oh hang on that’s Eurovision! 0/10

Look Incredible: Knocking it out of the park on the make-up front this month! We have a BareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow 4.0 quad in ‘The Soundtrack’, the metallic shades in particular are amazing! NARS Sheer Lip Treatment in ‘Paloma’ which gives a your lips but better look. Fusion Beauty Primer for added radiance and Benefit Ultra Shines lip gloss in ‘Haute’. Something for everyone there! 10/10

Glossybox: Glossybox’s make-up offering was a full size ‘Hall of Fame’ eyeshadow palette from budget brand MUA containing 12 of their most popular shades. They also sent a little make-up bag with the same Rae Feather design as on the front of the box. 5/10

Round Three: Skincare

Birchbox: Two lovely skincare samples this month, a Radiance Face Mask from Balance Me and The Buff Stuff citrus body scrub from Anatomicals.

I adore Balance Me products so it’s always lovely to be able to try another one, this mask includes AHA fruit acids which a big favourite of mine.
Anatomicals are a new brand to me and I must admit the word ‘citrus’ being in the name did rather put me off as I dislike the smell of lemons which is what came straight to mind! The product however smells more of grapefruit, which while I still don’t like the fruit to eat the smell is much more acceptable.

On the down side, Birchbox also included a full size Merci Handy alcohol based hand sanitiser! It’s not a beauty product and using it regularly is terrible for your hands and can lead to dryness and irritation. I really don’t know what they were thinking! 6/10

Look Incredible: The NARS sheer lip treatment can fall into this category too,
as well as tinting your lips a lovely shade it has SPF 15. It is made with mango butter and acai oil and contains added vitamin e.
The Fusion Beauty primer also pulls double duty as it contains skin care ingredients designed to help with UV damage and hyper-pigmentation.
Also in the box was Ooh! Organic Argan Moisture Retention Face Oil which is a pure argan oil. Ooh! are a new brand for me and definitely one I’ll be looking up as I do enjoy a nice facial oil. Argan is rich in linoleic and oleic acids – essential fatty acids our bodies cannot make on their own. 10/10

Glossybox: Glossybox are skincare heavy this month with three dedicated skincare products. First up is Mudmasky Facial Detox Purifying Recovery Mask. I immediately dislike this product for its use of the buzzword ‘detox’ and the blurb saying it “uses all natural ingredients”. If anyone out there finds any unnatural things please can they tell NASA ASAP? So what is it? It’s a clay mask containing bentonite and Moroccan lava clay. Clay masks set on the skin and feel tight, but whether they actually do anything is still unproven.

Next is a facial cleansing brush from Spa To You. I do like these types of brushes although I have to admit I would never pay £6.99 for one! If you’re interested in trying one as they are great pop down to Superdrug where you can one identical to this for half the money.
And finally we have Wild Cow Invigorating Body Lotion from Cowshed. If you like lemongrass this might be up your alley but alas, it’s not up mine. I’ve honestly never found a product from Cowshed that was which is quite disappointing really, their fragrances are really unusual. The lotions themselves are lovely but personally the fragrance leaves a lot to be desired. 6/10

Round Four: Brand Discovery

Birchbox: Brands new to me are Marcelle, Anatomicals and Merci Handy. Out of these three only one was a success! 8/10

Look Incredible: Brands new to me are Fusion Beauty and Ooh! 8/10

Glossybox: Only one new brand, Mudmasky. Spa To You were featured only two boxes ago… 2/10

Round Five: Overall Happiness Score!

Birchbox: Products inside that I haven’t mentioned elsewhere are Philip Kingsley ‘One More Day’ dry shampoo and an extra sixth product, a small sample of English Laundry Signature For Her eau de parfum. Frankly a very disappointing ‘box’ overall. No usable make-up and one of the samples is hand sanitiser! Nothing hugely exciting basically.I like the mask, I will use the dry shampoo but the thing I like the best… the bag. 3/10

Look Incredible: I’m thrilled with this one this month. Tons of make-up products, just how I like it! The shades in the quad could have been better for me personally but the quality of the metallics in there is amazing. The primer is particularly interesting as it is both a primer and a skincare product. I have only used it once but I definitely noticed it increased the radiance of my skin compared to normal. 10/10

Glossybox: A bit of an odd one, nothing to be unhappy about but nothing really bowling me over either. I’ll be popping the palette into me college kit, very handy! 5/10

The Totals!

Birchbox:

23

Look Incredible:

46

Glossybox:

24

Only one point between the two cheaper boxes but Look Incredible streaked ahead and won by a country mile!
You can find more product photos plus some swatches over on my Flickr account.

I hope you enjoyed this slightly different Olympics themed August beauty box post. Which box would you pick as your winner? Let me know in the comments!

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3 thoughts on “August Beauty Box Olympics!”

You got A LOT of great stuff! That eyeshadow quad looks nice, Ive had a few bare minerals shadow sets and have been pleased with the quality. Im really interested in that MUA palette, please let us know how it is. My local CVS carries the brand but I haven’t tried any of it yet. I would LOVE if you did a review on it and did some swatches 😉http://www.shipwithnosails.com

I'm Kath; a qualified beauty therapist and make-up artist. I'm currently studying media make-up and special effects to add some more strings to my bow. I'm a "make-up geek" as my friends say and am also a bit obsessed with nail polish too! I use this site to share my love of make-up and beauty and skin care education.
I'm also a bendy-EDSer and a wheelchair user.
Portfolio website coming soon!
bendybeauty.com